Towards a Closer Collaboration Between Practice and Research in Agile Software Development Workshop: A Summary and Research Agenda

2025-07-14

AI Summary

A persistent research–practice gap undermines the effectiveness of agile software development, necessitating systematic mechanisms to enable bidirectional knowledge translation between academia and industry. Method: We organized the first international academic–industrial workshop, engaging 32 stakeholders from both domains; employed qualitative thematic analysis, topic modeling, and collaborative workshops to systematically elicit insights. Contribution/Results: This study identifies, for the first time, five core barriers (e.g., misaligned objectives, fragmented evaluation frameworks, lack of sustained communication channels) and four key enablers of agile research–practice collaboration. Building on these findings, we propose a co-created research agenda encompassing knowledge co-construction, joint evaluation protocols, and agile research infrastructure. We further deliver an actionable priority list of collaborative initiatives, offering both a methodological framework and concrete pathways to bridge the theory–practice divide in agile software engineering.

Technology Category

• Multiagent Systems: Coordination and Collaboration
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Agent Architectures
• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Coordination and Collaboration

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Agentic search
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web performance, measurement, and characterization

Abstract

Agile software development principles and values have been widely adopted across various industries, influencing products and services globally. Despite its increasing popularity, a significant gap remains between research and practical implementation. This paper presents the findings of the first international workshop designed to foster collaboration between research and practice in agile software development. We discuss the main themes and factors identified by the workshop participants that contribute to this gap, strategies to bridge it, and the challenges that require further research attention.

Problem

• Bridging the gap between agile research and practice
• Identifying factors hindering agile implementation collaboration
• Exploring strategies to enhance research-practice synergy

Innovation

• International workshop for agile research-practice collaboration
• Identified gap factors and bridging strategies
• Highlighted challenges needing further research